Sunday, March 2, 2025

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Day 201

Good morning, and welcome to Andy’s Army!

For those of you just joining this adventure, let me catch you up. I started this journal-turned-blog one week after my diagnosis on August 13, 2024, as a way to keep the kids updated on my physical and mental health. I wanted to explain, in my own words, what I was going through and how I was handling this curveball life threw at me.

Over time, the audience grew. I kept adding more people to the distribution list, mostly because Cindy was fielding so many questions about how I was doing that she basically became my press secretary. To those of you who encouraged (pushed) me to open up my life to the world—thank you…I think.

Construction, Chaos, and Cindy’s Patience (or Lack Thereof) Yesterday was a quiet day—well, except for more sawing and hammering. The trim is finally going in this weekend, which means doors are back up Wow! 36” doors are big…it looks like an elephant could fit through them. The baseboard trim is installed. Progress! This morning, they’re installing the shower fixtures, which involves cutting into our brand-new tile. That’s a level of commitment (and anxiety) I’m not prepared for. One wrong cut, and we’re back to square one. Worst-case scenario? The tiler returns, extending this project into yet another weekend. The person who has to tell Cindy there’s another delay, well, their survival rate drops to zero.

A Nap, Some PT, and Yet Another Streaming Subscription The afternoon was pretty uneventful—just some computer work, PT and OT exercises, and a short nap. Then, I got sucked into binge-watching 1883 and 1923 on Paramount. I held out for years waiting to watch these shows and Yellowstone hoping they’d land on Netflix, but they didn’t, so I finally caved and purchased a subscription to Paramount. Now, I have yet another monthly charge on my credit card. These subscriptions are like bad habits—easy to pick up, impossible to quit. But hey, at least I have thousands of movie options across the five million services we pay for.

High School: The Good, the Awkward, and the Shyness

On Thursday, when we met up with some high school friends, Carrie the most popular girl in our class made a comment about when we first met in geometry class our sophomore year. She said I was shy. And you know what? She was right.

High school was a mix of some of the best and most difficult years. Tim and I ran in the same circle, but we didn’t always get along, in-fact I think we hated each other. We love each other now. Sometimes I felt like I was being pushed out of the social circle and I’m sure he felt the same way. He had this effortless charm (read: he was a smooth talker, read: bullshitter), especially when it came to girls. Meanwhile, I struggled. It was painful when we liked the same girls, I felt like he always had the edge over me. Socializing didn’t come naturally, and calling a girl for a date was an Olympic event in stress. I’d start dialing, panic, hang up, repeat. It could take hours to work up the nerve.

Over time, I got better at it—mostly thanks to Carrie and others who were kind enough to pull me out of my shell. So, to those who made high school a little less terrifying, thank you. You probably saved me from a life of being the guy who never made it past dialing the first six digits.

Have a great Sunday!

Love you guys!❤️